Bruce Wayne is Dead
by alliesnowflake
Summary: Batman was killed, but not as Batman, as Bruce Wayne. How does the Batfamily and the Justice League respond to his death. Focuses mainly on Dick's struggle to keep his family together and bare the burdens left to him in the wake of Bruce's death.
1. Chapter 1

" _Bruce Wayne is dead"_

Crime in Bludhaven was slow that day. The police officers were finishing up paperwork and generally doing nothing important, so when they heard the reporter, everyone's attention was on the TV. Bruce Wayne was an important figure in Bludhaven as well as Gotham. The pen in Officer Dick Grayson's hand clattered to the floor as his world came to a halting stop.

"No!" Dick breathes out.

" _Mr. Wayne was shot outside of Wayne Enterprises by an unknown sniper and died instantly. He is survived by his biological son, Damian Wayne, 12, his adopted daughter, Cassandra Cain-Wayne, 14, and his adopted sons, Timothy "Tim" Drake-Wayne, 17, Jason Todd-Wayne, 19, and Richard "Dick" Grayson-Wayne, 23. Our condolences to Mr. Wayne's family in this trying time."_

Every officer in the precinct turned to look at Dick, who was frozen in shock. No one knew he was the adopted son of the famous multibillionaire.

 _Shit_.

Dick repeats that in his head over and over again, trying to comprehend that Bruce Wayne, that his father, was dead. The goddamn batman is dead. It's not possible. He's broken out of his thoughts by his phone ringing.

Slowly, Dick accepts the call and puts the phone to his ear while the officers continue to look at him in shock.

"Dick…"

He chokes out Barbara's name in response.

"What am I going to do Babs? Do any of the others know?"

"I'm so sorry Dick. And no they don't. Tim and Stephanie are in a meeting, Jason is doing god knows what but he doesn't have a TV, Damian and Cass are at school, and Alfred's out of the country. None of them know."

"I… I'm going to come get you, and then we need to get all of them together so I can tell them. Oh god! How am I going to tell them their father is dead?! Babs, I can't… Damian just met him, Jason's finally talking to us again, what am I going to do?"

"You are the strongest man I know. You are going to comfort them and help them through this. You are going to be strong for them. And when you can't be strong, I'll be there for you. We'll get through this Dick, I promise."

"Thank you. I'll… I'll be there as soon as possible. Love you"

"I love you too" Barbara says as she hangs up.

"Dick"

Dick looks up at his partner.

"I have to go"

"Dick…"

"No. I'm sorry. I have to go. I have to go pick up my fiancé and then tell my brothers and my sister that their father is dead. I have to…" he cut himself and took a deep calming breath. "I just have to go."

And with that he grabbed his keys and walked out of the station, leaving his fellow officers behind, gapping at him.


	2. Chapter 2

After picking up Barbara from their apartment, Damian and Cass from school, and forcing Tim and Stephanie out of their Wayne Enterprises meeting, they were all seated in the living room at Wayne Manor waiting for Jason to show up.

"Grayson, stop stalling and tell us what's going on" Damian snapped.

"Not with out Jason."

"Dick, what's going on?" Tim pleaded.

"Wait for Jason."

"Dick…" Tim was interrupted by the front door opening.

"What's going on Dickie-bird? And why is everyone here?" Jason asked bitterly.

"Sit down Jay. I have something to tell everyone." Dick took a deep breath to prepare himself.

"Spit it out" Jason ground out.

"Bruce is dead" Dick spit out.

Everyone froze in shock.

"He was killed outside of Wayne Enterprises today. Shot by a sniper. There was nothing anyone could have done. Not even Batman could have survived that." Dick continued.

"No. That's not possible. Father can't be dead" Damian said in disbelief.

"I'm sorry Dami. I'm so so sorry." Dick answered, hugging Damian to his side.

"No." Damian resisted against Dick's hug. "You're wrong. He's not dead. He can't be dead. I just met him. Please. Tell me you're lying. Please tell me it's a joke." Damian sobbed against Dick's chest.

"I'm so sorry Damian. He's dead."


	3. Chapter 3

After Dick broke the news to his adopted family, he used Batman's JLA communicator to call a founders meeting and made his way up to the watchtower. He had to inform them of Bruce's death and come up with a plan that keep's batman's identity, and therefore the rest of his family's identities, a secret.

He walked into the Founders' conference room to find what remained of the founders already seated. The founders consisted of Hawkgirl (Shayera Hol), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Wonder Woman (Diana Prince), Superman (Clark Kent), Flash (Barry Allen), Martian Manhunter (J'onn Jonez), Aquaman (Arthur Curry). He also asked Green Arrow (Oliver Queen) and Black Canary (Dinah Lance) to attend as they knew Batman's identity and were family friends. He knew he should break the news to Diana separately, because she and Bruce were dating, but he had already had to tell his family and inform Alfred over the phone. He could only do this one more time.

"Nightwing? What are you doing here? I thought Batman called this meeting." Aquaman questioned.

"Batman did call this meeting. I used his communicator. I needed to talk to everyone who knows… who knew who he was. Who knew his civilian identity." Nightwing replied.

"Knew? What do you mean those who knew his identity?" Hawkgirl asked.

Dick sighed and said "Batman… Bruce is dead. I'm sorry Diana."

Diana slowly got up and walked towards him with tears filling her eyes. "Dick, I'm so so sorry." She said as she pulled him into a hug and sobbed into his shoulder.

He looked at the rest of the league with pain filled eyes as they started firing off questions at him simultaneously.

"What do you mean dead?!" Barry yelled.

"Bats can't die!" Hal said very seriously. "I mean he's the goddamn batman! He can't die!"

"What happened?" Clark asked switching into reporter mode, trying to get the facts to disprove this crazy idea that Bruce was dead.

"Bruce… he's gone?" Oliver said in disbelief. He and Bruce had grown up together. The man seemed immortal. He was the best of them. He couldn't be dead.

The others stayed silent waiting for Dick to answer.

Nightwing took a deep breath, shut down his emotions, and reported what he knew as clinically as possible. "Bruce was shot by a sniper outside of Wayne Enterprises this morning. He was shot in the head, right between the eyes. He died instantly and felt no pain. The police don't know who killed him or why, and trust me I'll be looking into that as soon as possible, but this was definitely carried out by a professional."

Dick took another breath to steady himself as Diana released him and returned to her seat. "I know you all want time to mourn the loss of your friend and fellow leaguer, but we need to talk about some things so that I can get back to Gotham. My family needs me right now, so I can give you a minute to come to terms with what you've learned, but then we need to get down to business."

Everyone blankly nodded back at Dick, so he went to sit in the vacant seat in between Diana and Clark, the seat that once belonged to his father, silently.

After a few minutes, Clark looked up, having shut off his emotions for now, and spoke to everyone. "I know this is hard on every one here. Bruce was a close friend, but Nightwing is right. We have much to discuss. Batman was an integral part of the League and his death will be noticed. I assume you have a plan to keep his identity as secret?" He said, speaking to Nightwing.

"Actually, he had one. One he hoped to never enact, but he has contingencies for every possible scenario."

"Alright then. What are his orders?" Aquaman asked.

"In the case of his death as Bruce Wayne, because he has a completely different set of plans for Batman's death, he asked me to take on his mantle which is something neither of us every wanted, but Damian and Tim are too young, and Jason is too aggressive. I'm the only other choice until one of them is ready. While I accept this, I am also Nightwing, and I have to protect Bludhaven as well as run the Young Justice Team."

"You can't possibly do all of that by yourself." Hawkgirl stated.

Nightwing chuckled darkly. "You think that's a lot on my plate. Let me tell what all of my responsibilities actually include. As Nightwing, I run the Team, train them, and protect Bludhaven. As Batman, I will have to protect Gotham, train Robin and the others, help run the Justice League, file reports, divert funds to the League, and keep the Watchtower up and running. As Dick Grayson, I have to help Lucius and Tim run Wayne Enterprises, I have to go to work as a cop in Bludhaven, I have to help Barbara plan our wedding, I have to make sure I don't fall behind in my college course, I have to sort through Bruce's will, and with Alfred gone I also have to run the manor. On top of all of that, I also have to take care of my family. I'm the head of the house now. I have to make sure that Jason, Tim, Stephanie, Cass, and Damian don't fall apart, that they eat, get their school work done; live, basically. I am now Tim, Cass and Damian's legal guardian. And, last but not least, I can't let anyone who doesn't know my identity know that Batman, the man who raised me and taught me everything I know, the man who is basically my father, is dead. I can't break because everyone else needs me to stay strong, to keep moving, even though I feel like I'm drowning." Dick finished with his hands clenched under the table, trying to calm himself before he did something he would regret.

"Dick… I… what can we do to help lessen your load? Let us help you. Please." Dinah said as she crouched down next to him.

Dick put his head in his hands and took a few calming breaths. "I'm sorry. This is just a lot to take, and I'm stretched a little thin right now. It's been a difficult day." He says with a small wry smile.

"I'm going to need your help. All of you. You're right Dinah; I can't do this on my own. And I can't ask much of Tim and Jason because they need to grieve."

"So do you" Clark interrupts.

"Well I can't." Dick snapped. "I have to be there for my siblings. I have to make Bruce proud. I have to do what he can't anymore because he's dead. So let's focus on what I need your help with before I break down." He paused. "Until I can think of a more permanent solution, I will be working as both Batman and Nightwing. Batman will continue to protect Gotham and Nightwing will stay in Bludhaven. Jason has agreed to help me in Bludhaven, and Damian is helping me in Gotham as Robin. Steph and Cass will work mostly in Gotham as well unless Bludhaven needs assistance. And Barbara is running comms. as Oracle. As Nightwing leads the Team, I will be spending a lot of my time with them. However, the Team presents us with a problem, since Batman assigns us most of our ops."

"You can't be in two places at once." Oliver points out.

"No I can't. Jason has agreed to play Batman when giving the Team ops when I'm needed on a mission. And if worse comes to worse, I'd like Clark or J'onn to help. I'll give you all the information you need, but you may need to put on the cape and cowl so that the Team doesn't get suspicious. Is that alright with you two?" Dick asks Clark and J'onn.

"Of course."

"I'll be glad to help."

"Thank you. Now, Batman can't visit the cave, because Superboy will hear the difference in my heart beat and Bruce's heart beat, so Batman will be announcing his renouncement of certain JLA and Team related duties. I'll say that Batman needs to focus on Gotham right now, in the wake of Bruce Wayne's death, since there is bound to be some major criminal backlash. He'll be less involved with the League as well, but if I'm needed, I'll be there."

"That's fine. We understand that you'll have less time to devote to the League than Bruce did. We can take you off monitor duty and have Canary take over Batman's training of the Team." Martian Manhunter states.

"If you take me off monitor duty completely, the Leaguers will be suspicious. I'll need to cut down on the shifts, but I can still participate. Instead of 3 times a week, lets move it to 1 for now. Once I get settled in I can probably up it to twice, but I'll let you know. As for training the Team, Nightwing will still be training them, but I would appreciate Dinah's help."

"I'm glad to help. I'm always up for kicking your ass in front of the kids" Dinah laughs to alleviate some of the tension.

"We'll see about that" Nightwing smirks back at her.

"What else can we help with? You said you had to file reports, divert funds to the League, and maintain the Watchtower, correct?" Clark recalls.

"Yes. You can't help with the reports, and only Ollie can really help with funding the League, which he already helps with. And none of you really know enough about the Watchtower to help with maintenance."

"Barry, you can speed read right?" Hal asks.

"Umm yeah but I don't see how… Oh. You want me to read up on the Tower so Nightwing doesn't have to worry about it as much." Barry guesses.

"That actually might work. If Barry reads all the manuals and reports I have, he can help me keep an eye out for anything that needs to be fixed. If the rest of you split up the reports and each focus on one section of the Tower, you can help with more specific things. And when it's time for maintenance, whoever's section it is can help me fix stuff." Dick muses. "Is that alright with everyone?"

"Yes", "Of course", "Anything to help" is heard from everyone in the room.

"Will you be taking over Batman's place in the Founder's meetings?" Aquaman asks.

"If you'll let me, I would be honored to. I know that as Batman I have to attend the meetings to keep his routine the same so no one gets suspicious, but if you don't want me to participate, I'm fine with-"

"Of course we want you to participate. You're Batman now. It doesn't matter if you weren't the original. You will be a part of the League and you deserve to have a say in what's happening. Plus, you've been in the superhero game longer than most of the Leaguers, excluding the people in this room" Shayera points out.

"I… Thank you." Dick stutters in shock. He didn't realize they would accept him so easily.

"Alright. So that covers Batman's duties to the League and the Team, as well as Nightwing's role on the Team. We can't help much with anything else because our civilian IDs don't really overlap, excluding Oliver, Dinah and, of course, Diana's, but we can help you plan, if you want a sounding board." Hal offers.

"Ok. That would be great. Thanks. Well, Ollie, if you could help with the charity work Bruce does, that would be great. Just look through them and let me know how much I should give to each or if I need to stop funding any of them. And Clark if you could let me know about any new charities you hear about that could use funding?"

"Sure" Ollie nods.

"Easy enough" Clark agrees.

"You can't help with my college classes or my duties as a cop in Bludhaven, so that's all on me. Same goes for my guardian ship of my younger siblings and I want to look over Bruce's will myself. Dinah, Diana, Shayera, do any of you want to help Babs with the wedding plans? I know you aren't close friends, and I'll still have to help, but you do know each other and if you can help her that would be great."

"Sounds fun" Dinah says while the others nod their agreement.

"I know I'm going to be really busy, so if you guys could also just be there for her when I can't I'd really appreciate it." Dick says sheepishly

"Of course Dick. You are family and so is Barbara. So of course we'll help look after her" Diana says putting her hand over his."

He nods his thanks to her.

"And what of Wayne Enterprises" J'onn asks.

"While I am now the acting CEO, Lucius has stepped in to handle as much of the work as he can. Tim has also agreed to take over the position as CEO officially as soon as he turns 18 and agreed to help me as much as he can in the mean time. There isn't much the rest of you can do. I just have to handle this myself. But thank you all for your support."

"It's the least we can do. Do you know when the funeral is yet?" Barry questions sadly.

"Not yet. I have to wait for Alfred to get back. The earliest flight he could get lands at 5 pm tomorrow. As soon as I know the details, I'll let you know. Thank you all for coming, and for everything you're helping me with, but I have to go now. The family is waiting on me to eat and then we have to go through Bruce's will and sort everything out."

"Good luck. Meeting adjourned" Clark says as they all stand and Dick swiftly makes his way to the Zeta tubes to get back to the Manor.


End file.
